Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Other Famous "Shut Ups" in History

When the King of Spain told the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (who adored Fidel Castro and called George Bush as “evil”), “Why Don’t You Shut Up.” People and the media were ecstatic. The admonition became a ringtone bestseller. But then by “people” I meant “Americans, Europeans and Australians.” Shame on little Hugo for being so obnoxious in front of your king. Let that put you in place, you former colonies,” they said.

In the Philippines, no one was talking about it. Maybe because we were as Emerson once said, shut up all the time. The Thomasites (early American teachers of our grandlolos) told us to shut up. Our grandlolas told our lolos to shut up or else the Japanese soldiers will kill them. Our mothers told us to shut up or else they will sell us to the Bombay selling umbrellas. Marcos told us to shut up. His successor, PGMA told us to shut up or kill us.

Haaay! So I decided to come out with a list of the most famous “Shut Ups” in history.

6. Never Miss a Chance to Shut Up. The great American entertainer and folk philosopher Will Rogers said, “Never miss a chance to shut up” and it became a witty put-down and motto for self-restraint. Richard Feynman, Nobel prize winner for Physics but more famous for his pithy observations on life, also had this as a motto: Shut up and calculate. This was also evident in “Finding Nemo” when Nigel told the seagulls who were all saying, “Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine” to “Oh, would you just shut up? You’re rats with wings.”

5. The Phantom Shut Up. Current Republican president frontrunner Rudolph Giuliani is haunted by a “Shut Up” that he might not have said. In 1989, Giuliani was said to have shouted, “Shut Up!” to his supporters who were hissing on his rival. This TV grab gave an image that he was easily agitated. Giuliani said sorry over the incident. 9-11 happened and he was redeemed a little. Now lip readers have now ascertained that he said “Kwaaaayett.”

4. Quiet Marcel Marceau, the most famous pantomime after Chaplin said, “It’s good to shut up sometimes.” Of course, he lived on that! On September 23, God told the 84-year-old French mime legend, “Shut Up,” and the whole world mourned in silence.

3. The Lord of Shut Up A junior Tory minister was making an impassioned speech about health services at a Commons committee meeting chaired by Lord Hailsham. In mid-flow, he was much disconcerted to hear the Lord Chancellor's voice suddenly exclaim, 'Shut up and come and sit on my knee!' It took everyone a moment to realise that Lord Hailsham was, in fact, addressing his pet dog, Mini."

2. Shut Up: The Song "Shut Up,” was the second song to come out from the Black Eyed Peas’ monster 2003 album, Elephunk. Because the carrier single, “Where Is The Love?” was so successful, the single was not released in the US but it topped the charts in Australia , Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland and it reached Number Dos in the UK and the Netherlands.

Black Eyed Peas is huge in the Philippine because of apl.de.ap, who is Filipino. But the song with the chorus of multiple “Shut Up” became more popular the next year because of …

1. The Shut Up Tribunal. On May 2004, Philippine opposition congressman Didagen Dilangalen and then House Deputy Speaker Raul Gonzales were tussling and the lawmakers decided to recess. Their exchange was something like

“Dilangalen: “Shut up!”

Gonzalez: “Shut up!”

Dilangalen: “No, you shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”

Someone from the audience gave Dilangalen, who was still in the rostrum, a note saying “Shut Up.” "Mr. Speaker, what have I done to receive this letter asking me to shut up? This is uncalled for. I want you to cite whoever sent this to me for contempt. I want immediate action, Mr. Speaker," Dilangalen said.

You have to listen to Dilangalen’s voice to imagine how funny the Shut Ups were in retrospect. So of course, his Shut Ups was incorporated in some versions of “Shut Up” by the Black Eyed Peas in the Philippines.